The prior art is already aware of rotary mowers having accommodations for attaching catchers, including bag-type catchers. Examples of such mowers are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,973,614 and 3,112,597 and 3,192,692 and 3,706,190, for instance. Those prior art patents simply show the rotary type of lawm mower with a side discharge opening and a bag in grass flow communication with the discharge opening. The bag projects to the side of the mower, as mentioned, but, in some instances, the mower does have a spring-urged door which closes over the mower housing discharge opening when the bag is removed. Further, the prior art is aware of mowers which have discharge openings at the rear of the mower housing and which may be directed generally rearwardly of the mower, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,899,564 and 3,118,267 very generally show rotary mowers with discharge openings toward the rear of the mower. Still further, the prior art is already aware of rotary mowers with catchers which are mounted directly to the rear of the mower and in line with the mower, and Australian Pat. No. 402,989 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,720,071 and 2,910,818 and 2,983,095 and 3,065,588 and 3,919,370 and 3,568,421 and 3,636,686 are examples of that arrangement of the mower with the catcher directly to the rear thereof. Finally, the prior art is aware of rotary mowers with a discharge opening having a door thereon and mounted on an upright axis for swinging between an open and closed position over the discharge opening and being spring loaded, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,656 generally shows that arrangement.
However, the prior art does not show nor suggest a rotary type of lawn mower with a catcher accommodation wherein the mower discharge opening is directed rearwardly of the mower and along the lines of the mower handle and with the accommodation or the catcher arranged so that the catcher is within the lateral limits of the mower and can be readily and easily mounted on and removed from the mower and which has its forward mounting portion disposed forwardly on the whole unit for positioning the center of gravity of the entire unit forwardly and thereby rendering the mower of minimum material and light weight but yet of complete stability. Still further, the prior art does not suggest a type of mower wherein there is the spring-urged door extending over the mower discharge opening and swingable to an open position where the door engages the portion of the catcher adjacent the mower for securing the catcher to the mower, and thus making a dual use of the spring-urged mower discharge chute door, that is using it in both the closed and open positions. Still further, the prior art does not suggest a type of mower discharge door which is adapted and arranged to intercept and dampen the impact of objects moved through the mower by the rotation of the mower cutter, but yet allow the mower discharge to be exhausted from the mower by being directed downwardly below the door in a space therebelow. Accordingly, the present invention provides a rotary lawn mower which improves upon the aforesaid features and presents a mower which satisfies the deficiencies of the prior art as mentioned herein.
In summary, the present invention provides a rotary type lawn mower with catcher accommodation which is an overall improvement upon the prior art rotary mowers which have means for mounting catchers thereon and which actually have catchers removably mounted on the mowers. Accordingly, the present invention provides a rotary mower which is of light weight and minimum dimensions, particularly in the length of the mower, all achieved by means of having the members of the mower which engage the grass catcher located forwardly on the mower so that the center of gravity of the combined mower and catcher is forwardly located and thus the mower need not be of a large size or heavy weight simply to counterbalance an overhanging catcher when filled with grass clippings.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawings.